It looks like Warner Bros. is starting to really pick up steam in regards to their DC Comics slate. With Suicide Squad well under way and Batman v Superman coming early next year, they seem to finally be learning from Marvel’s example and are putting in the work. Next up: Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the directing duo behind The LEGO Movie and 21 Jump Street, are reportedly developing a Flash film for Warner. They’re not directing or scripting (at least, not yet – they do have a lot on their plate but no one knows yet what their next film will be), instead they’re building up a treatment for the studio. Hopefully they can come up with a unique take on the Flash. It also seems odd that Warner isn’t utilizing their existing TV series, but instead want to keep the film and TV universes separate… Seems like a missed chance, to me! Read more…

Hey CW, I get the impression that you’re still feeling out where your Arrow/Flash spin-off is going to go, since it will have a bunch of superheroes in it. But can you give us a name to use other than “that Arrow/Flash spin-off with all the other superheroes”? Ah well, let’s talk about the new heroes added to the show. Ciara Renée has been cast as Hawkgirl, who learns that she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior who grows wings when she manifests her powers. In addition, Arthur Darvill (Rory on Doctor Who) has been cast as another time-traveller, Rip Hunter, who’s a bit more obscure. This all sounds good, but as I said before, we just need to know what this spin-off actually is! Read more…

It seems a bit spoilery to me, but the CW put out a promo for upcoming villains on The Flash. You’ve got your Weather Wizard, your Golden Glider, your time travel, all good stuff — but forget those guys. As mentioned a few months ago, Mark Hamill is returning to play an older version of the Trickster in an episode featuring a new copycat Trickster. Hamill previously played the role in the 1990 TV show The Flash, and while that show isn’t canon to 2014 The Flash series, get this: they’re using pictures of Hamill in that crazy outfit to reference this older Trickster’s criminal past. I love meta references like that! I wonder if he’ll have any scenes with John Wesley Shipp or Amanda Pays, who were on both TV series as well? Read more…

I love in-jokey meta references in TV series, and The Flash has a cool one coming up. Not content to cast John Wesley Snipp, the star of the 1990 one-season live-action adaptation Flash, as the father to the new show’s Flash, the producers are bringing back Mark Hamill as James Jesse, the Trickster. Hamill played the character in a Joker-like fashion, and ended up voicing the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series. But in this series, the Trickster is an “anarchist terrorist con man” in jail for life; he ends up helping the Flash to stop the attacks of a Trickster copycat, a possible reference to the second Trickster from the original comics. I have a feeling Mark Hamill will play this version much straighter, but I’d love if they snuck in a glimpse of that comical clashing costume from the old series. Read more…

Were we expecting anything different? It’s really hard to get those full-head masks to look right, though. This one looks okay. I can appreciate the attempt to keep the lightning bolts on the side. Colleen Atwood, who designed the Arrow’s costume, designed this one as well. The pilot for the Flash TV series will begin filming very soon, aiming at release in the 2014-2015 season on the CW. It also aims to be part of a larger DC universe the resides on TV — whether these TV characters will ever cross into the feature film realm is unknown yet. It could be an easy way to test the waters, though! Read more…

DC’s latest reboot, “The New 52,” didn’t pop up overnight. Even if they were discarding all that pesky old continuity (sort of), DC had to build up to it and give an in-universe reason why the reboot occurred. Hence, Flashpoint, a storyline where the Flash wakes up in an alternate universe and must fix things, leading to The New 52 universe which made changes and merged the Vertigo and Wildstorm lines into the main DC continuity. There’s an animated adaptation by Warner Brothers coming out July 30 on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital. It’s called Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, and WB has put out this preview! Read more…

The other day, on their Facebook page, Kotobukiya revealed their latest New 52 ArtFX+ figure: The Flash! It looks to be in line with their other ArtFX+ figures, at 7.5 inches tall. It’s a pretty nice sculpt, nothing too fancy, but my first thought was “isn’t he supposed to be moving?” It seems the Flash would lend himself to a more dynamic pose easily. I know, I know, he has to match his pose with the rest of the figures. The Flash will be available in February 2013. More images below! Read more…

This is a secondhand story to this photo I can’t really verify, but I thought the implications were too adorable not to share. Wandering a comic-book convention, a young boy gets separated from his dad in the crowd. Scared, he goes to the two people who could definitely help him out: the Flash and Wonder Woman. Sure, the photo seems conveniently snapped, but if it’s true, it really does speak to the feeling of good will behind most conventions. As a commenter on the image said, “99% of the people in costume at conventions like this are the nicest, most considerate people you’ll ever meet.” Because, after all, if you can’t trust the Justice League, who can you trust? Read more…

Apple is turning the screws tighter on Adobe to kill Flash — with their latest update to the iPhone OS they’ve now gone as far as to put in their agreement with developers that they can’t use Flash. This got me thinking about the history of Apple: As old time fanboys remember when Steve Jobs returned to the company it wasn’t a happy time. We were all glad to have him back, but upon arrival he killed the Newton and put HyperCard out to pasture. In fact one of the reasons I first dismissed the iPod was that as an old Apple fanboy it was never going to be as cool as the Newton. Little did I know that it would evolve into the iPhone. Read more…

In the wake of the Flash is doomed movement I’ve noticed quite a few Microsoft developers who are rooting for Silverlight. Silverlight has two amazing advantages going for it: Firstly Microsoft loves their developers more so than any other company that I’ve ever seen — and then add to that it will become a key tool for making apps for Windows mobile devices. But there’s one major catch to this which is that smart mobile is now dominated by Apple and Google, and that there’s a good chance that they won’t let Silverlight onto their platform. Read more…

So I started to think: What would it take to get Flash on the iPad? Seeing that it’s a political situation the clear answer is that the CEO of Adobe needs to make nice with Steve. And then it hit me: Who the hell is the CEO of Adobe? Back in the day THE guy at Adobe was Warnock but that was eons ago — so who is running Adobe today? And much to my shock after doing a Google search I came across the page below and it tells you everything that’s wrong with this picture: There is no strong CEO at Adobe — the company is still in the shadow of Warnock. Read more…

Happy Thanksgiving from Fanboy.com! To celebrate we’ve put together a gallery of turkey themed comic books for your entertainment. The one thing you’ll notice is that most of the holiday humor is aimed at younger comic book readers — an audience that both Marvel and DC are rediscovering once again. Shown above is the cover from Superboy #36 which was published in 1954 — the pencils are by Curt Swan and the inks are by Stan Kaye. Read more…

As someone who’s involved with animation what’s interesting to me is how quickly Flash has become a tool for doing great looking broadcast quality animation. The studio behind Ka-Pow! is Mondo Mini Shows which has has been in business since 1988, and while they’ve done well with TV shows Happy Tree Friends which is a child of the web has really put them on the map. To me this is part of a long term where sites like YouTube and Hulu will become as important as Cartoon Network in terms of launching new shows.